Basil RSS plugin for Yahoo Messenger

Basil is an easy to use syndicated news reader for Yahoo! Messenger. By installing the Basil plug-in, you can read news headlines from your favourite web feeds (e.g., web sites, blogs, schools, podcasters, etc.) within Messenger, then read the full story with a click of your mouse. Basil includes the following features. Automatic Notification: Basil tells you when your web feeds have new or updated content! Configurable: build your own custom list of favourite web feeds and control how Basil refreshes the headlines and alerts you to new content. Communication: while browsing headlines, set your Messenger status to link to stories you want to share, or instant message a news story to selected contacts. Intelligent Feed Discovery: drag and drop the URL of any website from your web browser into Basil to initiate a thorough search for syndicated content. My Yahoo! Integration: add web feeds discovered with Basil to your personal My Yahoo! page with the click of a button.

Yahoo Application Platform Release 1.9

A new release of the Yahoo! Application platform is now live on the Yahoo! homepage; on My! Yahoo!, our personalized start page; and on apps.yahoo.com!
Check out the updated apps management page where you can now browse and search for your favorite apps. Developers should note the improvements to our existing sharing flows: users can now share their apps with their contacts and their connections, leveraging their Yahoo! Address Book and enabling the entry of free-form emails. Check out the docs for yml:message to learn more.
Have a look here at some of the highlights of this release. Complete release notes will be available on the YAP documentation pages later this week.

Updated “My Apps” page:
• Check it out: apps.yahoo.com
• New nav bar for the canvas page and the my apps page, users can now go back to their list of apps from the canvas page.
• Users can now search and browse apps on apps.yahoo.com.

Updated share flows:
• yml:message, yml:share and the chrome share (the share button on apps.yahoo.com in the app chrome) have been updated.
• Users can now share their favorite apps with contacts in their address book and enter free form email addresses.
• Why is this a big deal? If an application can access a user’s Yahoo! Address Book, developers gain immediate access to an existing social graph, and don’t need to rely on the user to build out a social graph in order to share and extend the app.

Improved experience and integration on Yahoo! homepage:
• Users will now be able to stay in context when interacting with a YAP application on the Yahoo! homepage.
• Developers who use yml:a in their small view will automatically get this benefit, enabling behaviors like switching the user from the small view to the full view and enabling the user to stay in the homepage when interacting with yml:a links.

Protect your Yahoo account from password phishing

A sign-in seal is a secret message or image that you select to help protect your account from fraud such as password phishing (Phishing is when a fraudster sends you an email or link, claiming to be from a legitimate company. They'll often send you to a fake website they've created, and trick you into entering your password and personal information. You're then an easy target for account theft.)

When you create a sign-in seal for your computer, you can be sure you're on a legitimate Yahoo! site each time you use your computer to sign in to Yahoo!. You’ll see the text or image you set up on your computer. If it's not there, you might have landed on a "spoofed" site.

Your sign-in seal is saved on the computer you created it on. If you log in from a different computer, you won't see the sign-in seal. If you use more than one computer or browser, you can choose to create a sign-in seal for each one.
If you don’t see your sign-in seal on the Sign-In page, the webpage you've opened is probably a fake Yahoo! Sign-In page. If this happens, please report the webpage immediately!
Important: Don't create a sign-in seal on a computer you share with strangers, such as those in libraries, Internet cafes, and other public places.

Steps to follow:

1. First, go to http://protect.login.yahoo.com/
2. Press the start button
3. Select A Sign Seal.
4. Now you have your own Personal Seal. This works only on the computer where you saved your seal.

How to Record&Save Yahoo Messenger Webcam Video

Do you want to record webcam video of video chat done through Yahoo Messenger? EatCam Webcam recorder software makes this process real easy and allows you to record video chat webcam videos also from MSN, ICQ, and AIM. You can save the output in AVI, FLV, WMV video format and play recorded videos anytime you like.

Besides the video, it also records audio stream giving complete video experience. Audio can be recorded from any source including: microphone, line-in or speakers. Free edition has few limitation but works well recording video from any one messenger client among Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, MSN.

For example, if you use Yahoo Messenger, you can download free EatCam webcam recorder software for Yahoo messenger to record videos in AVI format. Download EatCame Webcam recorder to record webcam videos on the fly in few simple clicks.

Matrix Mode Chat Feature in YM for Vista

Usually you can mange multiple conversation using tabbed arrangement of chat windows. However, you still have to toggle to check latest in each chat window – NOT anymore with cool Matrix Mode Feature. With this feature you can arrange and manage Multiple chat windows as shown above.

To enable this feature, press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + b on your keyboard. This will turn your tabbed conversation window into one single window with a matrix of boxes, each showing an IM conversation.

Once you are in Matrix Mode, just click on the conversation you want to jump into and start typing. A white box around the conversation indicates which one you are in. As more conversations open, the layout will adjust to accommodate them.

Very handy feature if you want to chat actively with lot of friends simultaneously. This feature is only available in Yahoo Messenger for Vista, probably they can introduce this in XP version as well.

Yahoo Messenger Pingbox on Facebook profile

Yahoo Messenger Pingbox is cool widget box that you can embed on your blog or website. It allows you to chat with website visitors without having to install or download anything. Now you can put this cool IM box on your Facebook profile.

It allows Facebook users to send IM messages from your Facebook profile page. Messages are delivered to Yahoo Messenger, even when you are not logged into Facebook.

Customization tools are also available in the Facebook version like personalize your online and offline greeting, choose design etc. Stir up some activity on your Facebook page and get Yahoo Messenger in action with Pingbox app for Facebook.

Display online activity updates on Yahoo Messenger

Do you want your Yahoo Messenger friends to know about your online activities automatically? If yes, then turn ON updates features on your Yahoo profile to show your updates in a small window when you hover mouse on specific messenger contact in Yahoo Messenger. Here is simple procedure to get going:
1. Setup your Yahoo profile & enter basic information.
2. Goto Manage My Updates to enable ’share my updates’ feature and other settings. Click on Updates tab and check for Manage my Updates option.
3. On Manage My Updates page click ’show all Yahoo sources’ to select and configure updates from all or specific Yahoo services.
4. To include updates from non-Yahoo services like Youtube, Picasa – goto Show More option under Updates tab. Enter your common username associated with listed websites to get going.
5. Above steps will setup your updates on Yahoo Messenger. Now your messenger friends will know all about your online activities from uploading a picture to flickr to sending a tweet.

In case you are a private person and do not want your online activity information being shared with Yahoo Messenger friends, just goto ‘Manage My Updates’ under Updates tab and uncheck option ‘Share My Updates’. Since Yahoo messenger is for getting chatty and interactive, share my updates feature will appeal to majority of users considering it can dish out updates from both Yahoo and non-Yahoo web services.

About Yahoo Messenger Viruses

The first time I encountered this problem was two weeks ago. I was using my PC when an instant message from my niece suddenly popped up. To my surprise, the message with some clickable link in it was written in Thai! Right there, I knew it didn't come from my niece. Ignoring the message, I closed the YM window. After a few minutes, another message popped up. Then followed by another, and another, and another... Annoyed, I removed my niece from my YM's contact list.

After a week, I received a similar instant message from my sister-in-law. This time, the message was an invitation to view some photos in some website by clicking the provided link. Since there was no other note included, I suspected that the message was not from her. My suspicion was confirmed when after a few seconds, another message was sent. Hmm, another compromised messenger account, I thought. I sent a message back and advised her to change her messenger password ASAP.

I initially thought that this was some kind of an instant messaging spam. After running a search in Google, I realized that it is even worse. There seems to be two forms of attack, one is an actual virus/worm that spreads via instant messaging and the other is a phishing attack launched against YM users. For the latter, the attack usually starts with an instant message from the user's contact list. The message usually includes a link to a Yahoo-looking site requiring visitors to login and thus revealing their yahoo id and password. The phisher then uses this information to trick other YM users in the contact list of the compromised account. Worse, the phisher also gains access to all personal information in the user's other Yahoo accounts such as emails, photos, groups, etc.

The virus/worm version is reported to take control of your messenger, and send messages with website links to your contact list without your knowledge. When the link is clicked, the virus downloads a copy of itself to the user's PC, disables the registry editor and task manager, hijacks Internet Explorer homepage, and leads users to sites that automatically install malicious softwares on their PCs. Moreover, there seems to be several variants of this virus/worm out there: Yh032.explr, w32.KMeth, Worm_Sohanad.B, etc.

Y! Messenger viruses take advantage of the program's vulnerabilities that come with Java script and VBS. You can be infected simply by clicking a link to a picture (.JPG). When the page presenting that picture loads, java scripting run's a VBS (visual basic script - works on any Windows machine) that rewrites data on your harddisk. After you get infected, the virus starts sending mass messages to all contacts in your list asking them to follow a link, like in the example bellow. The messages vary, being generated randomly from different keywords from the virus's database.

If you are already infected, the easiest way to remove the virus/worm is to use system restore if you are using Windows XP. See Microsoft Help for details. Be sure to choose a restore point before you got the virus/worm and then scan your system for any signs of the virus/worm after the restore.  Update your PC regularly and use an up-to-date antivirus program. If this doesn't work, you can try to do the next steps:


1: Close the IE browser. Log out messenger / Remove Internet Cable.

2: To enable Regedit

Click Start, Run and type this command exactly as given below: (better - Copy and paste)

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableRegistryTools /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

3: To enable task manager : (To kill the process we need to enable task manager)

Click Start, Run and type this command exactly as given below: (better - Copy and paste)

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

4: Now we need to change the default page of IE though regedit.

Start>Run>Regedit

From the below locations in Regedit chage your default home page to google.com or other.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

HKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

HKEY_USERS\Default\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

Just replace the attacker site with google.com or set it to blank page.

5: Now we need to kill the process from back end. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del

Kill the process svhost32.exe . ( may be more than one process is running.. check properly)

6: Delete svhost32.exe , svhost.exe files from Windows/ & temp/ directories. Or just search for svhost in your comp.. delete those files.

7: Go to regedit search for svhost and delete all the results you get.

Start menu > Run > Regedit >

8: Restart the computer. That’s it now you are virus free.

I don’t know whether any removal patch that works for such Trojans/viruses. But we can easily delete them manually.

Is Yahoo Messenger 10 a real Skype rival?

Yahoo introduces the new Yahoo Messenger 10 that appears to put a bit more emphasis on real-time communications with several new video-related features. Folks are asking whether this might be a strong competitor to Skype. Well we will try to figure it out.

VoIP and PC-to-landline calls aren't new to Yahoo Messenger, but the icon that calls out video chats is. Most of the major IM clients support voice-over-Internet calls with Webcams. It is Yahoo's attention to video quality makes this build a closer competitor to Skype for Windows, which is a VoIP client first, enriched by chatting, file sharing, emoticons, and games. Yahoo Messenger (and Windows Live Messenger, and so on, for that matter,) are chat apps at the core that have layered on other P2P features.

Skype is still ahead in terms of total features, like screen sharing, its most recent contribution to the VoIP community. However, the Web chatting experience was good enough on Yahoo Messenger 10 in our tests that we might prefer to use it to start a casual video call if the app is already running, rather than fire up Skype. Admittedly, our tests were limited by the callers' proximity to each other, fast data connections, and strong computing configurations. We'll need to keep up the calling with a cross-section of international users to get a more accurate litmus. Since the improved video calling only works with other Yahoo Messenger 10 users, we may have to wait for further adoption to test these theories.

The call quality was clear and the videos were as crisp as our hardware allowed. Chatting and file sharing, however, slowed to a crawl as the call progressed. This seems to be the reverse of Skype, in which chatting has, in the past, often transmitted faster than the voice packets. Again, being in the same city, let alone the same country, could at least partly explain the reversal.

In addition to both parties needing Yahoo Messenger 10 on their Windows computers, there are some basic system requirements. You'll need Windows XP or better with a 1GHz CPU processor and 512MB of RAM. Your broadband internet will require a minimum of 300Kbps download speed and a minimum of 128Kbps upload (test both here). Then there's the video card. You'll need at least 96MB memory. A Webcam is mandatory to output video calls, but not to see a buddy's video. However, you will receive an alert if you don't have a Webcam. The final ingredient we'll mention is that the latest version of Microsoft DirectX must be installed.

Briefly, some of the other video features include toggling the sound on and off and shifting the position of the Webcam windows on your screen. These convenience tools worked well and gave the application some depth; we also liked being able to transfer files in full screen mode, even though photo transfers were slow.

One more complaint: The new Yahoo Messenger 10 doesn't appear to play nicely with all third-party IM clients. We noticed when chatting with a buddy who uses Digsby, that each line we type was replicated in the chat window. Odd, yes, and also irritating over time. But not all users chatting between Yahoo Messenger 10 and a different chat client will encounter problems, but if you do, let me know.

Yahoo Messenger Auto Response / Answer PM IM

If you are out of your computer and get some business to do, and you don’t want to sign out form Yahoo Messenger, you should try the Yahoo Tools called as YM Auto Response. This would make you able to send back any kin of Instant Message that come to your Yahoo Messenger account with some of pattern message. It’s works for Yahoo messenger 9.0 and 10. Some of the people said that this tool is like an answering machine.

This software has a name YMSG Autor Response. It has a feature to buzz before sending the message back automatically and buzz it again after sending the message, or you can choose only send the response without make a buzz. In order to use it, first you have to be logged in into your Yahoo Messenger in the normal way, then use this application and enjoy.

Download it

YM Avatars - Best Voted

I will share with you some of the best avatars voted this month. I hope you will like them because they are really cute.

Yahoo Messenger - Unlimited BUZZ

Everyone knows to send BUZZ on Yahoo Messenger. People, usually, use it to gain attention from someone else when that someone is not responding in a reasonable amount of time. All we have to do is to press that BUZZ button. In order to do not disturb very much the conversation partner with BUZZes the Yahoo guys thought to restrict you by allowing you to use again this BUZZ button only after 6-7 seconds. Well, if you are very nervous because you conversation partner is ignoring you, I will tell you how you can send him as many BUZZes as you want. First type in the conversation window <DING> . Then copy it to clipboard. Now just press Enter and you have a buzz. For the next one just press CTRL-V and then Enter again. Easy! Isn't it? Let the fun begin! Enjoy!

Yahoo Messenger F.A.Q.

Q. From where can i download latest Builds of Yahoo! Messenger?

A.

• Yahoo! Messenger 9.0.0.2162 can be download - Here
• Yahoo! Messenger 10.0.0.525 BETA can be download - Here

Q. Having Trouble Starting Messenger?

A.

• make sure that you do not have a program called windows blind running, it does not work well with yahoo
• make sure you're firewall is not blocking your connection to the yahoo servers. Try turning off the firewall for a second, see if you can connect, then you'll know if thats your problem
• make sure you have the latest version Macromedia flash player
• your Internet Exployer is updated, and Windows Media Player

Q. Can someone view my webcam without my permission?

A. No.Using a Cam-Viewer type program has never been proven to actually let you break into someones web cam without their knowledge and is extremely unlikely. Most of these so-called Cam-Viewer programs only allow the user to remain anonymous - you still get a request from Yahoo for "anonymous" to view your web cam.

Q. How do I send an IM to more than one person?

A. Open up your Yahoo Messenger contact list. Then hold down the "Ctrl" key on your keyboard and click on the contacts that you want to message. Click the "Actions" menu in Yahoo! Messenger and select "Send an Instant Message." Now just simply type your message and send.

Q. How can I recover my password to a lost or stolen account?

A. Go to https://edit.yahoo.com/config/eval_forgot_pw? to attempt to request a new password. If your unable to reset your password, your next step is to fill out this form Yahoo! Feedback and await Yahoo's reply. If still you didn't succeed try emailing Yahoo directly at messenger-new-help@cc.yahoo-inc.com, messenger-abuse@yahoo-inc.com or sg-mail@yahoo-inc.com

Q. How can I avoid falling victim to Booters?

A.

• Make sure you are not in a "Fight Room". These rooms are made for the purposes of malicious intent.
• Download and run anti-booting software such as Y!Tunnel or YTKpro - This easy-to-use program provides the highest level of protection available against abusive and malicious chatroom activity.
• Report the offending user to abuse@yahoo.com

Q. Can my contacts get my IP address, and if so what can they do with it?

A. An IP address is not something hard to obtain, and will not give away any information about you personally. In fact the majority of users have dynamic IP's that change from day to day, rendering posession of this info even more useless. Any way, if you want to avoid that someone to get your IP remember that using a webcam, messaging directly with a buddy, IMVironments and file transfers all may connect directly with your contact leaving your IP open for discovery. For better protection use a router or firewall on your home network and keep an updated antivirus application running as well.

Q. Is it possible to permanently delete a Yahoo Messenger account?

A. t is possible to delete a yahoo account but it will also delete everything else, including your yahoo mail and any other yahoo areas that you use that ID for. Once you delete it you won't be able to reactivate it. Here is the link to the page with all the info and links for deleting the account. http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/edi...s/edit-23.html

Q. How to put Symbols in your Yahoo Nickname (not your ID)

A.Just edit your profile regularly and put the symbols you'd like and viola.

Q. Can someone record my webcam feed?

A.Yes! And there is no way to prevent from being recorded. So some good advice i read lately: Don't do anything on cam that you wouldn't like to be recorded. Behave as if you knew you were being recorded or don't cam at all!

Q. Can someone add me to their friends list without my permission?

A.NO, if they are using a newer Yahoo! Messenger, you will always show up as "Add request pending" on their buddylist so they will not know when you're online and won't be able to view your status messages. (But with an older version of Yahoo! Messenger, and some third party Messengers, they will be able to see you as online and they will be able to see your status messages.)

Q. Can't see you own text or anybody else in Chat or IM ?

A. Close Yahoo! Messenger and all IE (internet explorer) windows

When you send or receive an instant message and no message appears, you probably have scripting disabled in your Internet Explorer.To enable scripting:
1. Click the "Tools" menu on your Internet Explorer toolbar and select "Internet Options."
2. Click the "Security" tab.
3. Click the Internet (globe) icon and click the "Custom Level" button.
4. Scroll down to "Scripting."
5. Enable the following:
* Active scripting
* Allow paste operations via script
* Scripting of Java applets are all enabled
6. Click the "OK" button at the bottom of the window.

FoxyTunes - Shows melody name in YM status

FoxyTunes, the popular music-player plug-in for Firefox, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Thunderbird, and so on, is now a plug-in supporting Yahoo Messenger for Windows, versions 8.1, 9, and 10 beta.

After you install this plug-in you can control many music players like Windows Media Player or Winamp. From the Yahoo Messenger you can control the volume, or you can skip or stop the current playing melody. Cooler at this plug-in is that it shows into your Yahoo Messenger status the name of the melody that you are listening, that regardless of player. Imagine that: Winamp, Win Media Player, VLC, iTunes and almost anything you come to mind can be controlled and displayed in messenger’s status, is delicious.

… and it works perfectly with Yahoo! Messenger.

To install, the simplest way is to give a click on "add plug-ins" from Yahoo Messenger UI. In the displayed list, you will find FoxyTunes from Yahoo! Music. Click Start and it will be ready to work immediately after you restart your Yahoo Messenger.

WackyB Twitter Sync - Yahoo Messenger Plugin

While Yahoo! Messenger does not officially offer Twitter support, the WackyB Twitter Sync plugin makes sending tweets as easy as sending an IM! Its main features are :

• Changing your Yahoo! Messenger status updates your Twitter automatically!
• Keeps your Messenger status and Twitter in synchronization with each other
• See your friends latest Twitters right in your messenger window...
• Update your Yahoo! Messenger status from anywhere in the world! Messenger status automatically updates to show your latest Twitter!
• Alerts and notifications for new Tweets received
• Expanded window shows the last 10 Tweets from you and your friends
• Twitter-Sync will NOT update your status if you are currently Invisible
• Lots of options to configure Twitter-Sync how you want!

Yahoo Messenger for iPhone

Do you have an iPhone? Do you want to communicate with your Yahoo Messenger friends and you do not know how? Well... it is easy. Download the Yahoo Messenger for iPhone from here.

Most of the features from the desktop version have been carried over to the iPhone’s smaller screen including emoticons, avatars, custom status, invisibility, and the option to send SMS to contacts. The application will also allow sending of pictures clicked using the iPhone’s camera

Although found by many as an extremely useful application, the YM for iPhone is a little low on features. Among the missing specs are: limited emoticons, no available games or themes, and no file transfer options. Apart from these, there are no other real complaints on this application.

You can look for a Yahoo Messenger iPhone demo here:

Yahoo! Messenger Tweaker

Yahoo! Messenger Tweaker allows you to change hidden settings from the well known messaging client with the same name.

Let's see what it can help us with:

* Lets you to open multiple instances - you have multiple IDs and you want to be online at the same time, then check the box (each instance is independent of the other and each takes its share of memory - attention if you only have 256 of RAM your PC might work hard)
* Remove ads - the ads occupie precious space in the window IDs and therefore we have locked
* Enable tabs - an excellent feature that I use it, but it seems that does not work in version Y! Messenger 9.0.0.1389 (probably applies to earlier versions of Messenger)
* Fixed (can not see what I type) - it happened once an issue of it, that I saw what I wrote, and this option corrects this Messenger problem (when I had this problem I used version 8)
* Save psw for - save password for a specific ID
* Also change the animation that appears in the process of 'login'
* Clear status messages - delete the status messages that were placed by users

Tweaker does not require installation as a single file that after you run it once and you set what you want does not need another use.
Download it NOW

Remove Ads from Yahoo Messenger 9

I hate the Yahoo Messenger Ads, and not just because they are disturbing from the user interface point of view, but also because they have to be brought from the internet and my bandwidth is decreased by unwanted traffic.

If you will stay to calculate: Yahoo Messenger Ads, Windows Updates, Video plug-ins updates, Yahoo Browser Bar, Google Browser Bar, and a lot of other applications, that a usual user has installed on his machine, you will noticed that your bandwidth is decreased with at least 32kbytes/second. So that is why I am trying to reduce as much as possible this kind of traffic.

So removing Yahoo Messenger 9 Ads it is an easy job. Just open a Notepad instance (Start->Run - type "notepad" and press Enter). Now in notepad go in menu on File->Open. Now the Open window will pop up. Here copy and paste this file location "C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts". Click Open. It should look like in the left picture. Here on a new line bellow to "127.0.0.1 localhost" add "127.0.0.1 insider.msg.yahoo.com". Save the file and close it. If you have any trouble and you do not understood what exactly you have to do the right picture should help you to figure it out. This change will not affect any other applications that you have on your machine.

Now open your Yahoo Messenger and log in. The disturbing ads should not be here any more. Now you saved few kilobytes of unwanted traffic. The fight against ads will carry on with more such tips and tricks. Your Yahoo Messenger will be clean as in the third picture :

Enable multi Yahoo Messenger login instances (for versions 9 and 10)

Q:Do you have more that one Yahoo Messenger ID?
A:YES I have two ! And I want to be able to log in with both of them into Yahoo Messenger.

Usually if you search on the web for this issue you will find solutions like: "Download Now this executable file to solve the problem". Well maybe that program will solve or not your issue, but also it might bring you viruses or is creating various vulnerabilities to your system. Now we will explain you what a such working application is doing behind and in the same way you can do it alone.

1) First step is to open from Start->Run window like in the picture:

Here type regedit which is a registry editor.

2) Now search and locate the following key HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Yahoo/Pager/Test. If you found it, right click into right side panel to create a new Dword value with name Plural and give it value 1.

3)Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect. For signing in with new YAHOO ID open another messenger open as many messengers you need. If you want to disable the multiple messenger option then again open registry editor and change Plural value 1 to 0.

Yahoo Messenger Network Spy

These days I found an interesting application called IMMonitor Yahoo Messenger Spy 2.0. Because the name was so attractive, my curiosity pushed me to install it and test it a little bit. In its presentation they are saying that this tool is able to "Capture and Sniff AIM chat conversations on all computers in network,It is able to record conversations automatically in real time,And export all intercepted messages to HTML files".
I've noticed that this YM Spy is using WinPcap (for those who do not know what WinPcap is go here). From my experience I had some troubles with this WinPcap library because many applications are using it and of course you can have only one version at one time on your machine and each application I had required a different version of it. If an application didn't find the wanted version it crashed. Any way... skipping this small issue I was pleasant surprised that the tool is working well. Of course you can use it only in your LAN network. It has included a small IP scanner which will provide you a list with all online computers. From here you can select what computer would you like to spy. YMSpy is very easy to be configured. The setup section is not very complicated and is providing options like "Run the program on the Windows Startup","Start capturing when the program startup","Auto save logs when" (a date),"Auto save logs when shutdown computer" and my favorite option is to "Enable automatic E-Mailing of chat logs". Also in the configuration section you have the option to secure the application with a password so no one can try open it and do chances on it.

I recommend this application for those who are needing such software. You can download it from
http://www.softplatz.com/Soft/Communications/Chat-Instant-Messaging/29830.exe.

Yahoo Messenger 10 - small review

Yahoo Messenger 10 is Yahoo's latest vision of its popular chat application for Windows. It builds off the design and feature strengths of its predecessor, Yahoo Messenger 9. The updated look includes more rounded corners and a tabbed buddy list.A new tab shares the screen with your contact list. Yahoo Updates takes its cue from social networking feeds like Twitter and Facebook's status updates. Keeping your buddy list tuned to the lifestream view, you can stay up to date with friends--as long as they update their Yahoo status, or remain active in other Yahoo services.
This screenshot of the chat window in Yahoo Messenger 9 highlights the notable design change to the icons. They look less bubbly and more grown up in version 10 beta (shown in the previous slide), perhaps reflecting a broader demographic that Yahoo wants to attract.
You can mute and hold a call, which suspends the video stream. Buttons make it easy to toggle on and off.For comparison purposes, here's a screenshot of how calling works in Yahoo Messenger 9 from the conversation window. The new design in version 10 beta really calls video chats out.

Improved video calling is the highlighted enhancement in Yahoo Messenger 10 beta. The feature received a back-end overhaul to improve audio syncing and viewing controls.

Optimize your Yahoo Messenger

Did you ever had the feeling that your Yahoo Messenger is not working well? Is your Messenger taking a long time to load? When you are trying to run other applications on your PC do you notice that they are not working as fast as they worked some time ago? Well.... the explanation is Yahoo Messenger. Take a look at the below picture:
As you can see Yahoo Messenger is using 07% from CPU and somewhere around 90Mb from your memory. To decrease these values try to do the next things:

• Close, remove plug ins which are not so useful
• Use default skins and do not import other from the internet because they are not build well(optimized)
• View your contacts in Detailed List and not in compact mode (save around 2 Mb)
• Uninstall other third-party emoticons and smileys applications

After you did the recommended things you memory should look like this :

As you can see, you will save 17 Mb and the CPU is somewhere around 1%. The PC I used for this test has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 2 GHz and 2 G of ram.

If you are running out of space on the partition where is installed Yahoo Messenger you can safely delete the content of Cache directory from ...location..\Yahoo!\Messenger folder. Right now I just saved 20 Mb by cleaning it.